Man seated in automobile--San Francisco 1956

This photograph, Man seated in automobile--San Francisco, was shot by Robert Frank at an unknown date. The image is grainy, stark. There is a man looking out the window of a car. He seems melancholic, lost in thought, maybe bored. It reminds me of that feeling of waiting. I wonder what Frank was thinking when he made this picture. It’s kind of casual, almost like a snapshot, yet there is also an attention to composition. The lines of the car frame the man’s face. The light is soft, diffused, and everything is grey. The texture of the photograph itself feels present. You can see the grain, the imperfections, like the artist is showing his working. It makes me think about how we see each other, fleeting glimpses of other people’s lives, the car as a metaphor for movement. It's like a drawing, so free and un laboured. The car is a place of transit but also privacy, a little bubble for reflecting. It's not about cars, it's about people. Artists have always looked to one another to find new ways of seeing.